Tag Archives: Bundle

Managing all of the assets that go into an iPhone app via Xcode can sometimes be tedious. It seems somewhat counter intuitive to me to have the IDE manage these resources too. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’d prefer to just work with source code and NIBs in Xcode and keep track of the “other stuff” on my own.

The other day I was looking around for a solution to remove the non-Interface Builder assets from Xcode, organize these files into folders within my bundle, and remove the tons of Groups or Folder References from the IDE. Happily, the answer wasn’t too bad.

Xcode Options

When you drag a resource into Xcode, it presents you with a dialog asking how to treat it:

Starting from the top, the checkbox will copy the assets (and preserve the folder hierarchy, if present) while placing the resources at the root folder of the destination group. The default radio box is to “Recursively create groups for any added folders” which is generally what you’ll want, especially if you’re using Interface Builder too. In your bundle, these resources are placed at the “root” meaning to access them in your code, you’ll just need to specify a name.

The other radio option, “Create Folder References…”, creates a folder tree both inside Xcode and in your bundle. However, the resources cannot be seen by Interface Builder and you’ll need to use a path if you load them at run-time.

Build Phase Copy

If you like the folder hierarchy in your bundle, or just want to move this management largely out of Xcode, it’s pretty easy to do it on your own by adding a new build phase, as shown below. Right click on your Target and follow the cascading menus.

The script calls an iPhone tool to recreate your folder structure inside your build directory before the final bundle is created. With the script, I can remove any links or asset associations within Xcode except those I want to use in IB. I maintain a folder “assets” off my product directory where I place any files that I’d like bundled in my app.

Checking Bundle Contents

Perhaps a trick most folks know, but I thought it was worth mentioning, is you can inspect and check the contents of your app bundle by following either navigating there via the Terminal or right clicking the app and selecting “Show Package Contents”.

I had a question about the database format of iGive Blood that shipped in version 1.0 and managed to find an old build from Apple. For products that you’ve shipped, it’s almost the same.

In iTunes, right click the app and select “Show in Finder”

Copy the IPA file to your desktop

Rename the extension to ZIP

Double click the ZIP to create an uncompressed folder.

Open the Payload folder which has the app.

It’s actually a bit disappointing that it’s so easy to get to the package contents especially as the contents aren’t obscured. Maybe that’s a subject for another post…